Two-part electrical connectors having angularly movable levers to assist in the mating and demating the two parts are well known. Such electrical connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,019,620, 5,876,225 and 5,823,808. Lever connectors may be loosely assembled into a “preset” condition and thereafter drawn fully together by rotation of a lever attached between two coaxial, spaced pivots on the interior or exterior of one of the two connector parts. The side portions of the lever arm slidingly engage pins on the sides of the other of the two connector parts such that, when the lever is rotated in one direction, it pulls the two connectors together via the pivots and pins. The lever may be angularly displaced in the opposite direction to demate the connector parts.
Although the manufacturing processes for such connectors are carried out with great care, a small percentage of defective connectors may nevertheless be produced. A defect in a lever-type connector frequently shows up as an abnormality in the force required to operate the lever to mate or unmate the two connector parts.